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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27974480">Home</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ziskandra/pseuds/ziskandra'>ziskandra</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Calm Before the Storm [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Dragon Age II</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Established Relationship, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Game, Seasickness</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 16:07:22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,024</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27974480</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ziskandra/pseuds/ziskandra</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Circumstance eventually forced us all to leave the Champion’s side. Well… all of us except for Isabela. </i>
</p><p>Two weeks after leaving Kirkwall, Hawke's still growing accustomed to her new home.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Female Hawke/Isabela</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Calm Before the Storm [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2022938</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Mistletoe Exchange 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Home</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/webofdreams89/gifts">webofdreams89</a>.</li>



    </ul></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The last time Hawke had been on a boat, she’d been fleeing Ferelden with her family.</p><p>This time, she’s running away again, and her family is so much smaller now. Mother, gone. Bethany off with the Grey Wardens.</p><p>The only person she still has by her side is Isabela, and <em>Maker</em> is she ever so grateful for Isabela. Even if it does mean she’s on a boat. A big boat. A ship, to be exact. It’s only been two weeks since they’d escaped Kirkwall but Hawke’s starting to crave solid land under her feet again. But if she were to leave, where would she go? She’d inadvertently instigated a rebellion.</p><p>At least she and Isabela had that in common now. She’d laugh about it, if she weren’t feeling so damn <em>queasy</em> all the time.</p><p>Isabela comes in and checks on Hawke more often then she thinks she deserves. She feels like a burden. When she confides so in Isabela, Isabela laughs, cupping Hawke’s face and placing a soft cheek against her cheek.</p><p>Three years ago, Hawke wouldn’t have expected Isabela capable of such tenderness, but a lot can change in three years. Isabela had asked Hawke to sail away with her in the precarious days after the Qunari invasion, and Hawke had resisted. She couldn’t deprive Kirkwall of its champion so soon. But that had been back when she’d considered Kirkwall her home, a place she could adequately protect, and everything had changed a fiery flash. The explosion.</p><p>A lot could change in three years. A lot could change in the blink of an eye.</p><p>Hawke had managed to forestall a war, once upon a time, by earning the Arishok’s respect, duelling him for the woman she loved. She hadn’t been able to admit it to herself at the time, not precisely, but she knows the truth now.</p><p>Could even bring herself to say it, too.</p><p>“I love you,” she says with all the brightness she can muster as Isabela brings her a cup of peppermint tea to soothe her stomach. Isabela has more trouble with the words, she knows, but some things don’t have to be said to be felt. Even though Hawke’s sure Isabela has more important tasks to attend, she sits with her on the bed anyway, holds her in her arms, sweeps back her hair from her head when she thinks she’s going to be sick, but isn’t.</p><p>“Now I know you’re really not feeling well,” Isabela teases, like she’s uncomfortable with Hawke’s earnestness.</p><p>Hawke gives Isabela a playful shove to the side. “I’ll say it a million times,” she reassures Isabela. “Thank you, again, for taking me with you—”</p><p>Waving off Hawke’s gratitude with a lazy flap of the hand, Isabela interrupts, “Hawke. I’ve been trying to get you to leave that shithole for years, now.”</p><p>Scoffing, Hawke answers, “I should have listened sooner.”</p><p>“That’s your problem,” Isabela says, grasping one of Hawke’s hands in her own, their fingers intertwining. “You’ve always been the <em>noble</em> sort. Taking on the responsibilities of others on your shoulders… haven’t you ever wanted to be some place where you could simply be yourself?”</p><p>Again, Hawke would laugh if she wasn’t quite so seasick. Instead, she gives her lover’s hand a gentle squeeze. “Truth be told,” she answers wistfully, “I barely know who I am any more. But I’m looking forward to finding out.”</p><p>“There’s a lot to be said for selfishness,” Isabela answers. “If I had my way, I’d lock you in my quarters and we could forget everything about the outside world. No templars or mages. Only us.”</p><p>“I’d like that,” Hawke answers with a grin before another wave of nausea overcomes her and she feels herself paling. Isabela scoots the bucket over and rubs reassuring circles over her back. Pulling a face, Hawke continues, “Maybe when I’m feeling better, though.”</p><p>“You’ll get used to it,” Isabela assures her. “Another couple of weeks, you’ll get your sea legs, and you’ll learn to love the freedom of the open waters.”</p><p>The sickness comes and goes in waves, much like the motion of the seas. Once it passes for now, Hawke sags against Isabela. There’s a misconception she must put to rest, she knows. “It was never the sea I feared,” she starts, and she can feel Isabela raising a brow even though she’s not looking at her lover’s face.</p><p>“Oh?”</p><p>Hawke averts her gaze. Like Isabela, she’s never been skilled at facing her emotions straight on. Their insecurities simply manifest differently: Hawke buries her doubts under responsibilities, while Isabela eschews them. Hawke craves external validation, whereas Isabela at least pretends not to care about the opinion of others. “I needed to be somewhere I mattered,” Hawkes confesses, her smile growing crooked. “I assure you, it grew <em>very</em> out of hand.”</p><p>“Hawke,” Isabela says, drawing her name out like a sigh.</p><p>“I know, I know,” Hawke answers in reply. There had just been so many people in her life she couldn’t save. She’d had to make up for that, somehow.</p><p>As though Isabela had read her mind, she says, “You saved my life. You matter to me. Isn’t that enough?”</p><p>Hawke mulls the thought over. Another wave of discomfort passes over her once more and reaches for the bucket again. Maker, she must be quite the sight. “I’d like to think it is,” she speaks, voice echoing in the still-empty vastness of the pail.</p><p>When Isabela says it like that though, it makes Hawke feel like it might actually be enough. That <em>she</em> might actually be enough. She doesn’t have to prove herself when she’s alone like this with Isabela. They’re simply two screwed up women doing their best to navigate the world together, and it just works, somehow. Isabela rubs reassuring circles against her back, and Hawke thinks that there's nowhere else she'd rather be than <em>here</em>. </p><p> </p><p>For so long, Hawke had run from place to place, pushed away by circumstance, trying to convince a strange new village, town, city that she and her family were worth the trouble.</p><p>But she knows better now.  </p><p>Home is a person, and her person is Isabela.</p><p> </p>
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